Bitmine's Ethereum Treasury Hits 5.79M ETH, with 85% Staked

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has expanded its Ethereum treasury to 5.79 million ETH, equivalent to roughly 4.8% of the circulating supply, after buying close to 10,000 ETH over the past week, according to the company's investor-relations disclosure. About 4.9 million ETH, or 85% of its holdings, is staked via validator operations. Bitmine estimates that once all deployed Ether is fully active across its own infrastructure and partner validators, staking rewards could reach about $299 million on an annualized basis. Chairman Tom Lee cited a three-month high in the ETH/BTC ratio as a sign of improving momentum. As of July 26, Bitmine reported total holdings of crypto assets, cash and marketable securities of $11.8 billion. Separately, Lido has begun what it called its largest core upgrade since Lido V2, migrating more than 8 million ETH to Ethereum's newer 0x02 validator architecture. Lido said the moved assets represent about one-fifth of all staked ETH and are valued at roughly $16.5 billion. Operators are consolidating away from the legacy 0x01 format after the Pectra hard fork raised the maximum effective balance per validator to 2,048 ETH from 32 ETH. The transition is expected to cut Ethereum's total validator count by nearly one-third while keeping the same amount staked, reducing consensus-layer processing load per slot and supporting faster finality. stETH holders do not need to take action. On-chain data suggest large Ethereum wallets are accumulating near yearly lows rather than buying into strength near an all-time high. Addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH bottomed around 4,750 in early June and have climbed to about 4,850, with the 30-day change staying positive for most of July. Separate wallet tracking indicated new large holders bought about 50,000 ETH in mid-July as the ETH/BTC ratio improved by roughly 6%. Institutional demand has also steadied. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a third straight week of net inflows, totaling $103.9 million in the week ended July 24, following about eight weeks of net outflows. Daily inflows remain well below prior peak levels. For Bitmine, staking income is increasingly central alongside price exposure. The company said roughly 4.9 million ETH is already bonded to Ethereum validators, leaving a smaller unstaked reserve that can be deployed through partner operators. At current reward rates, full deployment would generate about $299 million in annualized staking revenue before infrastructure costs and validator commissions. That profile sets Bitmine apart from many corporate Bitcoin treasuries, whose holdings typically do not generate native protocol cash flow. The firm's $11.8 billion in crypto, cash and marketable securities also provides capacity to expand validator operations. Lido's Curated Module v2 introduces a first for the protocol: selected node operators must now post their own ETH as a performance bond. Lido said the bond is designed to cover slashing, execution-layer reward violations and operational failures, replacing a model that relied heavily on reputation. A parallel CSM v3 update adds an "Identified DVT Clusters" category for community validators using distributed validator technology from providers such as Obol or SSV. By splitting validator keys across independent operators, downtime and penalty risks can be reduced, allowing lower collateral requirements. The changes are intended to improve accountability without requiring stETH users to sign transactions, avoiding risks such as blind signing. Ethereum network activity has yet to fully validate the accumulation narrative. The 14-day average of active addresses is nearing 400,000, indicating usage is stabilizing rather than accelerating. The distinction matters because sustained rallies in Ethereum after extended bear markets typically require both balance-sheet demand and broad on-chain participation. Whale buying occurred while ETH traded near yearly lows, suggesting a more defensive posture than euphoric positioning. A decline in active addresses alongside a reversal in ETF flows would weaken the accumulation case. Market participants are now watching whether transaction growth follows treasury buying, validator consolidation and improving institutional flows over the quarter. COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring model characterizes Ethereum as in an uptrend but constrained by overhead supply. Spot ETH was last at $1,944.79, up 1.70% over 24 hours. Support at $1,940.74 is scored at 61/100 based on a Value Area Low and Ichimoku Senkou B confluence. The strongest resistance sits at $1,964.72 with a 69/100 score driven by the Fibonacci 0.500 level and the upper Bollinger Band; $2,063.38 also scores 69/100, supported by Fibonacci 0.618 and point-of-control levels. RSI stands at 62.15, and MACD remains bullish. Derivatives positioning is modestly constructive, with funding at 0.0057%, open interest at $8.27 billion, and a long/short ratio of 1.52. The Fear and Greed index at 30 indicates fear. A daily close below $1,860.48, cited as a 78/100 support level, would invalidate the bullish thesis.